Discover how Citi are supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Citi is part of the FlexCareers family, and we are excited about our continued partnership with one of the world’s largest financial services organisations. They cover more than 100 countries and territories globally where they conduct business. Regardless of their scope of business, Citi is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer with Stephen Roberts, a founding member of Male Champions of Change, leading the way as Chairman of Citi Australia.

What does diversity look like at Citi?

Research and experience show when a company embraces diversity they attract the pool of talent needed to be productive, successful and innovative. As Citi continues to embrace its diverse employee talent pool, it is creating a culture of respect and inclusion that means all employees are comfortable to contribute and be themselves at work.

As a business, the unique strength of backgrounds and the different perspectives of their employees allows them to be a successful global bank, in touch with their clients and communities within which they operate. The combination drives innovation and ethical business practices.

Citi recognise the commitment to hiring diverse talent, promoting people on their merits and treating everyone with respect and dignity.

How does Citi promote gender equality in the workplace?

The business has seven pillars to their gender strategy under which sit goals and programs. The seven pillars are recruitment, pay equity, senior representation, workplace flexibility, employee networks, parental leave and supporting an end to domestic violence. They are measured through performance reviews with heads of each business unit.

What does inclusion look like at Citi?

Unconscious bias training

A critical aspect to ‘walking the talk’ at Citi is their commitment to unconscious bias training. What does that mean? It is an area the company continue to invest in and focus on. Within a training environment, participants are able to understand the business case for an inclusive work environment, recognise unconscious bias ad take actions to improve on-the-job decision making to support the workplace culture of leadership, ethics and inclusion.

Flexible work

In regard to flexible work, Citi embraces the notion of flexibility in how, when and where their employees work. It allows every employee at all levels realise personal and business objectives and continue to have meaningful work and career opportunities. In 2015, they piloted a ‘Working Dads’ program, to assist men managing roles and expectations at home and in the workplace.

Employee Networks

Citi have internal employee resource groups initiated and led by employees. They offer access to professional development, mentoring, networking and community engagement opportunities. Each chapter is open to all employees resulting in 150+ chapters in 65+ locations across 38 countries with 16,000 members. It sounds like they are onto something.

Development Programs

Citi have a varied choice of programs focused on developing leaders across all levels of the business. Some include a specific focus – like the six-month Diversity Leadership program – targeted at high-potential women. The program gives them access to workshops, individual coaching and sponsors to help build their confidence, executive presence and strategic skills.

Another is a 12-month program designed to strengthen the pipeline of women for leadership roles included in Citi’s Risk group – Women in Risk where career goals, a career plan and networking opportunities come together.

All Citi’s programs can result in becoming part of an alumni community.

In 2016-2017, Citi was recognised with several awards including Citi Australia being ‘Employer of Choice for Gender Equality’ (WEGA).

Corporate social responsibility

Citi Australia partners with non-profit organistaions to give young people (aged 16-25) a positive experience – ‘Pathways to Progress’ initiative – and increase their chances of employment or start a business. Another program the business offers is the Citi Workplace Giving program – it allows employees to make regular pre-tax payroll donations via Good2Give to a range of Australian Charities.

Interested in a career with Citi Australia? Explore current flexible jobs available with Citi.

6 Things Every Career Driven Millennial Should Do

Jack Welch is one of the world’s most respected and celebrated business icons, known for his track record of success, enormous love of people, fierce passion for winning, and unbridled desire to change the world for the better using his unique management practices. 

As chairman and CEO of General Electric, he increased his company’s stock by 4,000% between 1981 and 2001. Here are some of his top career tips useful for today’s millennials. 

1 – Find where your passion and skills intersect. 

Find what you love and involve that in your daily life. Although your greatest opportunities and deepest passions may not overlap entirely, it’s a good practice to include enjoyable tasks in your work life. 

Once you find where your skills and interests intersect, Jack Welch recommends that you overlay that with opportunity to avoid targeting a market in which nobody is hiring.

2 – Over deliver. 

Do more than what you think will be sufficient. You should always be asking yourself whether your work is above average. It is nobody’s responsibility but your own to prove your worth in your position, company, or field of work. By taking on work that no one else will, you can show your boss initiative and build credibility. 

3 – Act on feedback. 

Candor is one of the most important concepts a company can value. Because it is impossible for you to see your performance objectively 100% of the time, it’s important to seek candid, regular advice from supervisors, colleagues, and friends.  

Mr. Welch tells us that, “Feedback from anyone is good. Synthesize it, decide whether you want to act on it or not, but make a conscious decision not to blow it away.” 

4 – Don’t fear failure, embrace it head-on. 

Things will go wrong (unexpected termination, bad bosses, dead-end jobs, economic downturns). You must look at the facts, do a self-evaluation, and move on to take the next opportunity. 

Your reaction in times of failure reveal true character – don’t let it reflect badly on you and you will stand apart from the masses. 

5 – Lead others. 

Prepare for the possibility of leadership now rather than later. Practice taking on a mindset that different people succeed in the same roles with different sets of skills. Today, shared leadership is more important than ever because managers focus on their employees – not themselves. 

Conduct a self-evaluation of your résumé, skill set, experience, and interest. When you identify areas in which you are lacking, make a game plan for tackling them head-on. 

6 – Never stop learning. 

Only those who are naive think that questions are a sign of weakness. Ask important questions – learn about the industry that interests you and its newest innovations. Never settle for “good enough.”

 

 

Join Dana Manciagli’s Job Search Master Class now and get the most comprehensive job search system available!

New to HR? Start By Learning the Tools for Success

Human Resources is the area of an organization that deals with hiring, firing, administrative work, and training of a company team. It’s a career that you must love in order to deal with all of the crazy that happens on a daily basis. HR is rewarding in many ways; it has more career paths to try than the directors of Game of Thrones have actors to kill off, seriously. But as an HR newbie, I found that starting out was be one of my most challenging battles in my life.

There are some HR pros that had the pleasure of “falling into the HR World,” but this isn’t the case for everyone. It’s a hard field to enter if you don’t have the proper tools to succeed and one of the biggest resources available is the people that truly love this field.0

Image result for heart eyes gif

You have your college degree and your knowledge to show you worked hard for at least 4 years, if not more, to understand what HR is all about. Now it’s time to put that brain to work land your first official HR job, here is how you can do it:

Resume

Hopefully you’ve been able to have some on the job training through internships or actually HR work in the past. Listing this information in the right way is crucial to making sure the company pays attention to your resume. If you’re able to, spend the money to use great resume businesses like The Resume Crusade run by Chris Fields. Check out his website for pricing and information. You can get in contact with Chris through his email chris@resumecrusade.net or Twitter account @ResumeCrusade. If you don’t have the money to get a resume made, contact your local SHRM Chapter or the National SHRM, they are full of HR pros who can help you or get you in contact with the right HR pros who can.

Interviewing 101

Interviews are the second hurdle to landing the job. You’ve submitted your resume and they liked it enough to call you in for a face to face conversation. Interviews are just a conversation that helps the company understand how you will fit into their current culture with the team. Research the company as much as possible, not to make your responses sound practiced, but if you’re able to understand what they do and like the position available, they will see your excitement for the role. Make your interview memorable for the right reasons, not because you were late or wore pajamas to the interview -yes it has been done.

There are many great resources to use to get your foot in the door. Join all areas of social media and get your name out, let people know what you’re looking for and where. Networking will always be around so you might as well learn at the start of your career.

As an HR Newbie, as I like to call us, you’re about to embark on a ride that has many twists and turns, create your HR Tribe early and you’ll always have great people to fall back on when you need a push in the right direction.

Finding Your Purpose: One Thing, One Word

finding purpose: your one word; one thing

In the 1991 Billy Crystal film, City Slickers, a group of friends in mid-life crisis take a vacation on a cattle drive led by Curly Washburn played by Jack Palance. There is a wonderful contrast between the grounded Curly and vacationers who seem as uncertain in their daily lives as they do on their first cattle drive. I say “first” because there was a sequel.

Have I lost you? How about this?  Jake Gyllenhaal also in the movie. It’s not on Netflix, but is on Amazon as is City Slickers in Westworld.

I hope I’ve captured everyone’s attention. Maybe I’ve just driven some to Amazon . . .

City Slickers has several interactions worth recollecting. My focus here is on an exchange between Jack Palance’s Curly and Billy Crystal’s Mitch Robbins. It goes something like this:

Curly: Do you know what the secret to life is? One thing, just one thing.

Mitch: What’s the one thing?

Curly: That’s what you’ve got to figure out.

I recalled this after speaking with a dear friend about the conversation she had with her mother regarding her father’s military headstone. Like most things in the military, there is a lot of structure, process, and policy about headstones. With the persistence of a beautiful widow and her strong-willed daughter, there is also a place for creativity and individualism alongside the majesty of disciple found in Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery. George Sandstrom is honored there. I had the privilege of attending George’s funeral on December 17, 2016. The same day that John Glenn was memorialized at The Ohio State University for HIS service to the country. WOW, I thought as I watched some of Glenn’s ceremony. These guys did A LOT! Hopefully, you know some of Senator Glenn’s accomplishments – the first American to orbit the earth, the oldest person to fly in space, married for 73 years, raised two children and has two grandchildren.

A few points on George:

  • He grew up in Wisconsin in a cabin without electricity or indoor water.
  • He joined the Marines and flew a helicopter in Vietnam and for “heroism or extraordinary achievement” was awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross.
  • He was a Chief Pilot for Northwest Airlines and the Wisconsin State Director of Aviation.
  • He farmed when he was not flying – always sure to bail hay on the hottest day of the year.
  • He raised and judged Percheron horses participating actively in the horse community.
  • He was a loved husband, father, grandfather, friend, leader and community activist.

That is to say that if something needed to be done, he did it. If he knew someone needed a hand, he lent it. He flourished in his life, leaving a legacy of love, family, buildings, organizations, businesses, animals, and trees – so many trees.

Obviously, I’m a fan! As boisterous and confident as he was, as much as he contributed to the globe – literally the earth, society, and to individuals, George figured out his one thing.

Which is good.

Because when all was said and done . . . on his headstone, there was room for one word. ONE WORD! ONE THING! And he chose that word, not on that day, not on the form, but in the living of his life. Through his actions, George Sandstrom chose the word COURAGE!

Which made me wonder.

What’s MY one thing? What word do I choose? What word do I live? What word will be on my headstone? How about you?

How FOSU Can Kill Your Business

“It can feel like a rigged game. Executives set impossible goals, so managers drive their teams to burn out trying to deliver. Employees demand connection and support, so managers – many of whom have received no leadership development or leadership training – focus on relationships trying to change their employee engagement scores, and ultimately fail to make the numbers,” say Karin Hurt, CEO, and David Dye, President, of Let’s Grow Leaders. “The fallout is stress, frustration, and disengagement, and not just among team members―two-thirds of managers report being disengaged. To succeed, managers need balance: they must lead people to achieve while creating an environment that makes them truly want to.” 

Karin and David answer four questions that will help you lead successfully and keep your business flourishing. 

What is FOSU? 

FOSU (Fear of Speaking Up) is an epidemic stifling innovation and creative problem solving.  

In today’s business climate, people are often discouraged for saying the wrong thing and not rewarded for saying the right thing – so they say nothing. The consequences can be dire: businesses lose customers, problems multiply, and employees lose heart. 

Why does Fear of Speaking Up happen?  

It’s a complicated dynamic of leaders not asking, ignoring or rejecting suggestions, and employees playing it safe. 

  • Senior leaders wonder why people won’t solve problems or share solutions, but don’t realize that their own style or approach is squelching feedback. 
  • Insecure middle level managers discourage sharing. 
  • Leaders don’t ask. 
  • Speaking up isn’t rewarded 
  • Internal competition drives people to keep their successful secrets to themselves rather than to share best practices. 
  • Employees have had bad experiences in the past, feel like their opinion isn’t welcome, valued, don’t know how to speak up, or they may be so busy they don’t recognize they have something valuable to offer. 

What are the consequences to a team or organization when FOSU is common? 

In our leadership consulting and training, we’ve seen many teams and companies struggle and fail because people aren’t speaking up to improve the business.  

It starts with innovation stagnation. People do what they’ve always done, and you don’t see the “micro-innovations” – the small improvements in day-to-day work. Inefficiency multiplies and is never eliminated. This sucks the life out of employees and employee engagement declines.  

Silos creep in between teams and departments. Leaders don’t get the information they need to make the best decisions and there is no bench for leadership succession. Motivated employees leave for organizations where their passion is valued. 

What can you do to eliminate FOSU in your team or organization? 

Here some of the best practices we’ve observed in organizations that succeed in reversing FOSU.

For leaders, we recommend that you ask. Intentionally seek out the wisdom your people have to offer. When you get feedback or ideas, respond. You don’t have to implement every idea but do say thank you.  

Celebrate when people speak up. Create specific times where you facilitate the sharing of ideas about how to improve.

We encourage you to Own the U.G.L.Y., by asking these 4 strategic questions: 

  • What are we Underestimating? 
  • What’s got to Go? 
  • Where are we Losing? 
  • Where are we missing the Yes? 

Eliminate unproductive internal competition. If people have incentives to keep their ideas to themselves, it’s unreasonable to expect them to share.  And use strategic open-ended questions that ask employees to share their ideas for improving the business.   

Another strategy is called two-level thinking. What is it that keeps your boss’s boss up at night? What are the goals they need to achieve and the problems they need to solve? Present your idea in terms of what they need to achieve, and you improve your chances of it being heard and implemented.  

And of course, create two- way conversations about what’s working and where expectations are breaking down.

 

 

Join Dana Manciagli’s Job Search Master Class now and get the most comprehensive job search system available!

A Look at Health Care Professions

health care jobs

One of the strongest areas of job growth in our economy is in health professions. The many different careers associated with taking care of our sick and injured, as well as working in preventive care, present many opportunities to someone who is thinking about a new career.

Yet many people underestimate the size and range of these careers, thinking that they encompass doctors and nurses, and little else. Of course, that’s not accurate, and it’s a misconception that could lead someone to miss out on a satisfying and lucrative career.

If you or someone you know are investigating options for a career after high school or a change of careers later in life, take some time to familiarize yourself with some of the many other jobs that are available in health care. Some require extensive education, others are available with on-the-job training, while others fall somewhere in between.

Therapists

There are many different careers just under this one umbrella. Generally speaking, a therapist does some type of patient care that either manages a chronic condition or helps the patient recover from an injury or illness. Their work involves working directly with patients under the guidance of a physician or other caregiver who prescribes certain interventions by the therapist in much the same way as he or she prescribes medicines.

One example is a respiratory therapist. These workers do everything from treatment of asthma to ECG interpretation in hospitals, clinics, and outpatient facilities. Similarly, physical therapists help patients regain mobility and function after events such as strokes or broken bones. Occupational therapists do similar work, helping their patients regain the ability to perform daily tasks after an injury or illness.

Technicians

This is another broad area of work. The term “technician” generally refers to someone who operates a particular type of equipment, and that applies rather well to the various types of medical technicians. These careers involve a wide array of workplaces and functions, but they are all typically connected with the direct care of the patient.

A common career in this group is a radiologic technician, who performs X-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds on patients to help doctors diagnose injuries and illnesses. Emergency medical technicians work primarily with ambulance providers, giving the initial prehospital care to the sick and injured during transport to the hospital. Laboratory technicians work with equipment to review blood work and other samples taken from patients.

Nurses

While most people are familiar with this occupation, it has a much bigger scope than many people realize. Starting with a program to become an RN, CNA, or LPN can send you down many different roads, and they don’t all end in a hospital or a doctor’s office.

Nurses do more than walk from room to room and check on patients. Many provide in-home care or serve as hospice workers during end-of-life care for patients with terminal conditions. Others work their way up to a nurse practitioner career, in which they can see patients in a similar arrangement to what doctors do. Nursing is an incredibly broad field with a lot of opportunities to do something new and different from time to time.

Health care is one of the oldest professions. From our earliest days, we have sought to help treat illnesses and injuries. The evolution from those first experimental efforts to our modern health care system has not only changed the role of doctors, it has created many other roles that carry out work in support of a primary caregiver.

The more we learn about how to treat various conditions, the more people it will take to execute care of each patient. That provides lots of choices for people interested in working with health care, and it positions the field for steady growth for the foreseeable future.

The Best Career Advice I’ve Ever Received

the best piece of career advice I've ever received

How many times throughout the course of your career have you uttered the words, “well, THAT wasn’t in the job description”? Frustrations on the career front have come to be expected. Very seldom do we encounter the person who is 100% satisfied with their gig 100% of the time and when we do, they immediately fall into the category of “love/hate.” Feeling unheard, incompetent or as if you are being completely misunderstood is not out of the ordinary and neither is feeling completely defeated by any of the above. It’s safe to assume we’ve all been there but I’d like to share with you the best career advice I’ve gotten in a while that has actually helped me to keep both my trajectory and self-worth intact.

Don’t Play the Victim

It’s so easy for us to throw our hands up when that email sits unanswered or that project takes an unexpected turn. What isn’t easy is to look to option b, c or even d to help us pivot and adjust the sails accordingly. Easier said than done, right? Below are a few tactics that we all have in our arsenal and help to keep this mindset at the forefront, even in the most defeating of scenarios.

Enlist Help Early On

No one likes to raise their hand admitting that they need help, especially not from their boss. Most of us approach projects with a self-deprecating expectation that asking for assistance will be perceived as a sign of incapability. That is not at all the case. Stay ahead of the pitfalls and maintain a transparent channel of communication with your manager. More often than not, they’ll have some really great advice or have access to a resource that you may not have considered. There is nothing worse than sitting in on your one on one late in the game and admitting that a detail has fallen by the wayside. Speak up and do it sooner than later.

Document and Recap

If it’s not on “paper” it didn’t happen. Be sure to document every detail and send out recaps following discussions, no matter how minor they might seem. You never know when you’ll need to refer back to that paper trail and if there is ever a question pertaining to accountability, you’ll want to be able to look back and quickly provide that documentation. It’s also important to keep your boss informed of progress, roadblocks, setbacks, plans for moving forward, etc. Send a progress report every so often so that they feel informed and can speak to their own contacts with surety.

Leverage Your Network

To be fair, this one depends heavily on your company culture. Not all employers cultivate an open door policy so it can be challenging to take action when waiting for a response or when escalation is in order. Do your homework early. Build your list of cross-functional contacts so that when the time arises, you are comfortable looping them in. Are you still waiting for that deliverable? Is that email sitting idly? Reach out to someone else on the team who can help keep the momentum moving. The concern may be a breaching of trust if you start pulling in additional points of contact so do it tactfully. Utilize that CC option when appropriate, start with a dose of gratitude for the help provided thus far and most importantly, stay persistent so that you have grounds for tapping into alternative options.

The most important component to staying confident in your role is taking control of the things you can and trusting your expertise. It’s so easy to cower when you’re feeling defeated. Keep the “don’t play victim in it” mantra at the forefront and you’ll notice your feeling of defeat quickly turn into one of empowerment.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career thus far?

Creative vs. Traditional Resume: Which is Right for You?

traditional resume

The job market has so many resume styles that you can choose from, making it even harder to know where to start when you are creating your own. However, once you’ve had a grasp about the different types of resumes out there and when to use them, picking the one ideal for your situation is easy. Since your resume is the first communication with a potential employer, it needs to stand out.

But how exactly do you get the right attention? Plus, how do you ensure that your resume grabs the recruiter’s attention? To help you, here is an essential guide to traditional and creative resume styles, and the how and when to use them.

  1. The Traditional Resume

Traditional resumes follow long tried and accepted standards of writing resumes. Such resumes don’t have fancy formats nor do they include technology for impressing potential employers. With the traditional template, your resume fits well in conservative industries like finance or family medicine jobs.

However, traditional resumes have an obvious drawback; yours will probably look like many others that pass through a recruiter’s hands. This means that your information and experience should speak for itself. On the other hand, a traditional resume is safe since it won’t annoy a recruiter.

In addition, your resume looks like it should, and potential employers will be blown away by the facts, and only the facts. However, make sure your resume is clean and concise. Also, embrace brevity while describing your achievements and skills, and don’t use five sentences where you can use one.

You can use this resume format if you think an employer is likely to value the more traditional style. Fortunately, you can employ various traditional resume styles.  

 

  • One-page traditional resume

 

This is a great option on several occasions like when you have limited work experience or applying for a part-time or entry-level job. Most employers ask for a one-page resume in job descriptions; so read the prospective employer’s resume guidelines carefully so you give them what they want. Plus, most busy recruiting managers don’t want to read pages and pages of information.

 

  • Simple traditional resume

 

The simple resume utilizes a minimalistic, clean style to catch a potential employer’s eye. If fancy formats are not adding anything special to your resume, it’s best to avoid them. Simple resumes feature great organization, sans-serif fonts and have a balanced white space with no distractions whatsoever.

 

  • Executive traditional resume

 

This is a generally recommended style for anyone applying for a senior-level or executive position. While most resumes are just a single page, an executive resume is two pages long. One page usually covers the candidate’s work history in relation to the executive position he or she is applying for.

If you’re applying for an executive or senior position at an organization, be careful not to obscure professional experience with creative or elaborate formatting. Stay safe by sticking to the usual traditional resume style guidelines to show that you take the position seriously and respect the hiring company’s traditions.

  1. The Creative Resume

Creative resumes will not work for every field, but if applying for creative jobs like graphics or visual art design, the creative resume is the way to go. In other words, if your job requires creativity, showcase your talents using a creative resume.

 

  • Infographic creative resume

 

The infographic resume includes the use of visuals to give prospective employers critical information about yourself. You can use data visualization methods like graphs and charts to show your work history and skills in ways employers will remember you. Use this style if you are applying for a job with a quirky start-up or creative employer.

 

 

The video resume is highly creative and should be used only when you’re a sure that it is a good fit for the job you are applying to. For example, an actor will require a reel, which is the industry requirement. If personality is a critical employment requirement (for example for a sales position), the video resume can land you that interview – overall, you’re giving employers a taste of how you’ll perform.

No matter the job you’re applying to, you’ll still need a paper version of your video resume. However, the professional resume video will likely impress the creative hiring personnel. It indicates that you have taken the extra step to prove your abilities.

 

  • Portfolio creative resume

 

This creative resume style can be used for applying for work in visual industries like photography and art where samples of your work are required. If applying for teaching jobs, include lesson sample plans and homework assignments in the portfolio.

You can make the portfolio resume as a personal website whose link you include in your paper resume. The paper portfolio can be a daring single-page document that includes images and tests that show your past works. Or, you can create it into a full-blown portfolio with samples, achievements, and publications in a three-ring binder.

Create a career portfolio that acts as a reference point whenever you are preparing for an interview or writing the all-important cover letter. Your portfolio will help you stand out from other job seekers since you have samples of your works to show.

Conclusion

So, should you make a creative resume or stick to the traditional resume? While having a different style will definitely get you noticed, it’s important that you look at the position you are applying for while creating your resume.

Forget the Work-Life Balance Duality

forget the work-life balance duality

I hate the term work-life balance. Life is not the opposite of work for me. I hope it is not the opposite for you. When I’m working, I’m engaging, connecting, growing… Also I am definitely breathing when I am working. Hope you are too!

So, what do we mean when we speak of work vs life and keeping a balance between them? The work-life duality is a flawed mindset. Both of these categories – “work” and “life” – include aspects of identity, relationship, and sense of purpose that create fulfillment in our lives.

Imagine a balance scale. Take a quick inventory of the myriad of roles you play throughout any given week. Here are some of mine to get you thinking: co-worker, project lead, recruiter, sourcer, cheerleader, fiancé, daughter, dog-owner, citizen, friend, and yogini. Now place your many roles into one of the weighing pans on either end of the beam – one pan for “work” and the other for “life.”

This means every role we play needs to be arbitrarily split into these two categories. Yet for all of us who have done any remodeling or hosted a party, then a role like project lead will be tough to put on only one side of the scale. The more we examine the roles we play, the more overlap we may find.

But please go with this mental exercise for a bit and put your “work” roles on one side of the fulcrum. Then put your “life” roles on the other side. Now look at the balance scale. It takes an odd skew, doesn’t it?

On the other hand, work gives our life purpose and infuses our lives with a key set of relationships united by that common purpose. Often work defines us: #IamaRecruiter, right? Gallup finds that 55% of US workers get their sense of identity from their work. It’s not just a j-o-b. This percentage has remained pretty stable across the 16 years of surveying. In a 
recent survey, the percentage of US workers who got their sense of identity from work jumped to 63% for those with household income over $50,000 and jumped all the way to 70% for those with a college degree.

Yet is work all of who we are? Again, take a quick inventory. Consider the many areas beyond work where you have relationships united by a shared purpose – such your family or school, sports, or civic groups. It seems fairly human to bond around relationships created through common mission and vision. We do it for money, sure, but we do it for many other reasons too.

Our health, our families, our work – it’s all vital to our full lives. Do they ever stay in balance? We juggle. The struggle is real. The search for balance is worthy, but aiming to balance work and life doesn’t make sense to me.

The only way to achieve work-life balance seems to be drop the view that work is separate from life. My life is my life. My time is my time. My choices are my choices.

From that perspective, integration becomes the way forward. How do I integrate the many roles, relationships, and goals vying for my time? Well, for this “recruiting yogini” my practice comes first. I rise early, do a little yoga, a little chanting, and a little meditation. After that my purpose for any given day is a lot clearer. My simple practice enhances my ability to flex with what life brings. It strengthens my resolve to stand with poise in the face of challenges. And it provides some intuitive wisdom of when to bend and when to be firm.

By choosing every day to make time for my practice, integrating all the other demands on my time gets so much easier. Sounds good, but you have no time for anything more, right? If the work-life balance illusion has you stressed, then take a deep breath. Give yourself a break, actually give yourself several breaks. Conduct an experiment by giving yourself 15 minutes in the morning for 30 days. Try 5 minutes of yoga, 5 minutes of chanting (for real), and 5 minutes of silent meditation. Then see whether or not you have an sense of integration throughout your life priorities. If this experiment doesn’t work after 30 days, google work-life balance and go back to the illusion. You’ve lost nothing!

Here are tools get you started:

There are so many more…

Encouraging men to take parental leave | Macquarie Group

Encouraging men to take parental leave Macquarie Group FlexCareers

Taking parental leave wasn’t something that Andrew Wilson had always intended to do. He didn’t think it would work for his circumstances at home or at work, and his wife was already taking the first 12 months off work after their daughter, Violet, was born. A Human Resources Business Partner at Macquarie, Andrew has recently returned from parental leave after “circumstances both at work and home changed so that it became a viable option for me to take paid leave before Violet was two years old.

“My experience has been amazing but equally I have felt the full range of emotion – from being apprehensive about leaving work, worried about my capability to look after my child and exhausted from the experience – to euphoric about seeing my daughter, Violet, grow and develop.”

This sentiment was echoed by Conor Tierney, a Senior Business Development Manager at Macquarie, who recently returned to work after two months of parental leave with his second child. He too hadn’t planned on taking parental leave, but heard a colleague speak about his experience. “I had heard that a colleague had taken parental leave, so I sought him out to ask about his experience. He couldn’t speak highly enough about it, so after that, I jumped at it. I took three months parental leave with our eldest son, Finnian, and another two months with our second son, Patrick.”

Conor was recently photographed as part of the ‘Aussie Dads’ exhibition by photographer Johan Bävman. The exhibition, aimed at advancing parental leave equality for Australian fathers, was supported by Parents at Work, which wrote on its website that “in Australia, approximately only 1 in 50 fathers take paid parental leave according to OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] data.”

Reflecting on why he thinks so few men take up their employers on the paid parental leave schemes, Andrew said “I think there can be many reasons, including financial, professional or cultural. Some men feel ill-equipped to care for their children due to lack of experience. I also think one of the biggest barriers in some organisations is managers not empathising with the request to take parental leave or managing the transition back to work after such a big life change.

“For me these were all very real considerations, but my actual experience from application, to going on leave and then return to work was positive”, he said.

Conor agreed that how colleagues would perceive the situation was something he was nervous about, but said “it turned out to be unfounded as everyone was really supportive. Colleagues were seeking me out when I returned from leave asking for feedback on my experience.”

When asked about the biggest preconceptions and challenges that they had before taking parental leave, Conor said “in terms of being the ‘primary’ carer, I had some nerves, as I was very much the ‘secondary’ carer for the first nine months of our son’s life. I remember the first Monday morning when my wife went back to work – I was concerned how I’d go. Though, after a few hours I got into the groove and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Andrew said, “I thought it seemed like such a long period of time where I would have time for myself to fill with other things… how wrong I was!”

“My first five days were the most difficult, but also very rewarding. I had to learn something new each day to manage so many different and challenging situations. My approach to parenting had to grow and it did by using a learning mindset—which is something I have applied coming back into the workplace,” he said.

Andrew said that working in HR he always thought he would take his own advice and believe in the support that the company would provide. Despite this, he also “felt anxious about the decision to take parental leave.” However, he said that “this was balanced by an overwhelming feeling of joy, happiness and excitement about the journey I was about to take. I kept telling myself I will never get the time back and it genuinely felt like the start of something that would stretch and develop me unlike anything else.”

Both agreed that there is more to be done to encourage men to take parental leave. According to Andrew, “we need to normalise the role of parenting for men and women as equal. This will involve the education of a whole generation of managers (especially male) who have not experienced men taking parental leave as the norm.

“I think having male senior managers who take parental leave talk about their experience would help to normalise it, as will training team members to ensure they are aware of the changes someone who has taken parental leave has been through and how they can help and manage that person and the transition back to work,” Andrew said.

Conor echoed that “the more men that take parental leave, the easier it becomes for the next person” and that it will help break down outdated views.

Andrew added, “I feel very supported with my return from parental leave and the flexibility that has been provided. There’s always more to do, but encouraging others to take the opportunity is one of the biggest things I want to focus on. My experience has been extremely positive, and I would like to think that this can become the norm for all fathers wishing to take parental leave.”

Find out more about working at Macquarie here.